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Patron saint of America

Somewhere en route to winning their first 13 games of the National Football League (NFL) season, New Orleans Saints fans renamed Drew Brees, their talismanic quarterback, "Breesus". T-shirts were printed, bearing legends such as: "What would Breesus do?", "Breesus is my home boy" and "Sweet Breesus".

Many were emblazoned with tweaked images showing him walking on the water of the Mississippi river, with the city's St Louis Cathedral in the background. If a minority of devout Christians were offended by the iconography, most understood the quasi-religious fervour surrounding the player who tonight will try to lead the Saints to victory over Indianapolis Colts at Super Bowl XLIV in Miami.

The Saints have not been to the gridiron classic before. For decades they were so bad that their nickname around the league was "The Aints" and their own supporters would often place brown bags over their heads to symbolise the chagrin